Native American Heritage Month: Harvey Marvin

Quote: "I have been many things in the Tlingit-Haida Central Council. I helped reorganize the organization ... I was part of the group that started the reorganization. I am glad that there are so many that are not ashamed of being a Native person or part of the ethnic group.

"For many years, even though people would disagree with me on the language issue, I blamed it on the religious organization that being Native of any kind was heathenism - we were heathens - and that we were forbidden to speak our Native languages. They needed to Christianize us and banned our language. It was a crime to the non-Native world to be speaking Native."

 The Juneau Empire will profile a different member of Juneau's Alaska Native community each day during November. To be profiled, e-mail editor@juneauempire.com. Please include a name and phone number.